Consistency in Coffee
by ekc293
Summary: The incessant whispering punctuated by soft kisses to the shell of her ear is what wakes her, and she's more than a little annoyed by it.


A friend said "Someone do this"  
And for the first time in a long time I answered.

* * *

"Kate. Kate. Kate."

The incessant whispering punctuated by soft kisses to the shell of her ear is what wakes her, and she's more than a little annoyed by it.

She's not on call, a rare occurrence for a Monday but after the case they solved this weekend she was more than grateful for the reprieve, looking forward to spending it catching up on some much needed sleep.

"Kate. Wake up."

She swats at him, makes contact with his forehead and rolls over, groaning as she tries to bury herself deeper in their sheets. It's nearly October and he keeps the loft chilly to start with because he's always too hot, and his t-shirt she threw on last night isn't cutting it.

He tugs the blanket down though, ridding her of her warm hideaway and she flips over and scowls at him.

"Castle –"

He cuts her off, leans down and kisses her before he stands up from where he was perched on the bed, holding both hands up as he hurried backwards out of the room.

"Hold that threat. Give me just… one second."

And then he's gone.

She thought that after the years of being with him she would start to get a handle on how he works, but she's left sitting in their bed, thoroughly confused why he woke her up just to leave her alone, and she's deciding whether or not she should go back to sleep and get up and demand to know what happened when he comes back into the room, carrying a tray full of coffee.

By the time she processes that, the tray is in her lap and she's staring down at 4 mugs full of coffee while he kneels beside her on the bed, looking up at her like she's supposed to understand what he's playing at and she'll blame it on the abrupt awakening but she's lost.

"Castle… What is this?"

He beams at her then, shifts his weight on his heels so he can use his arms to point to each cup rather than support himself.

"It's National Coffee Day and I wanted to make sure that you had exactly what you wanted because coffee is our thing and I wanted you to know how much I love you –"

"Castle, we've been married for 5 years."

She doesn't know how he manages to look annoyed and pleased at the same time, but somehow he pulls it off.

"Yes, I'm aware, love. And you still call me Castle. But I don't want you to forget. So on the right you have a classic cup of drip filter coffee with skim milk and sugar because it reminds you of home, a cup of iced cold brew if you want to drink it quickly, a homemade ristretto because you sometimes like to drink them after a hard case to wake you up, and then –" he says, finally taking a breath, "you have your vanilla latte with a sprinkle of cinnamon because it's fall, complete with art by yours truly."

She looks down at the cups. He's made a career out of watching her and learning her habits, and after 5 years of marriage it's so like him to go overboard on a hardly recognized holiday to prove how much he loves her.

"I just wanted to make sure they were still hot when you woke up," he starts, mistaking her silence for displeasure, "and you usually like to be awake by 8 even on your days off so I wanted to do something nice for you."

She shakes her head and tries to move the tray off of her lap but he beats her to it, hastily puts the tray on the table beside the bed, nearly knocking all the other contents off of it in the process.

"If you want," he says, twisting back towards her, "I can make you something else. Or I can dump these out and let you go back to sle -"

She leans over, the sheet twisting around her legs as she catches his lips in a soft kiss. She doesn't let it last long, pulls away before he can deepen it and takes her latte with the heart drawn in foam from the tray. The warmth from the coffee seeps through the ceramic into her hands, and she sinks back against the headboard, hugging the mug to her chest. She lifts the cup to her lips, breathing in the warm vanilla and cinnamon, smiling at him before she takes a sip.

"Thanks for the coffee."

His smile is worth the early wake up.

* * *

"Adventure in life is good; consistency in coffee even better."  
\- Justina Chen

* * *

Happy National Coffee Day  
(And Season 7)


End file.
